This booklet discusses three Federal programs for the continuing education of adults: Adult Basic Education; Community Service and Continuing Education; and Civil Defense Education. Initiated through the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, Adult Basic Education began operation in 1965, financed by the Office of Economic Opportunity and administered by the Office of Education. In 1966 the Office of Education assumed full responsibility for its program, which provides reading, writing and arithmetic classes for undereducated adults. The Community Service and Continuing Education program, begun under Title 1 of the Higher Education Act of1965, is designed to strengthen the university's commitment to its community; it applies the academic expertise and resources of institutions of higher education to the solution of community problems. Civil Defense Adult Education is a joint Federal-State enterprise entirely financed by the Federal Government. The program provides for three separate courses: (Personal and Family Survival; Shelter Management Training; and Radiological Monitoring) plus a program of advice and guidance to local school systems. (se)